Liz Argall

Ignite Portland, plus a bit of roller derby.

Monday, March 8th, 2010 | News update | 2 Comments

Speaking at Ignite Portland was a blast. It was scary and interesting and challenging and filled me with a manic kind of energy.

You can see my talk here

and you can see the full list of talks here.

All these videos are brought to you by the fabulous folks at Blaze Streaming Media who do cool things like livestream and then archive Roller Derby Bouts for Portland’s Rose City Rollers. If you’ve ever been curious about roller derby I think these are the best videos of it I’ve seen around and every bout they work to make it better.

Mike has been helping out as a camera man (so you’ll see some of his camera work on some of the videos) and he is now an Assistant Coach for Portland’s roller gals. It’s nice to see him skating around (he was speed skater) and I am very proud of him.

I didn’t know toes could do that!

Monday, March 1st, 2010 | News update | 2 Comments

I spent a lot of last week flat on my back plagued by a fearsome cold (or as we say in Australia, and the UK, a fearsome lurgy). On Saturday, recovering at last I did a bit of work on the laptop with my feet folded under me. I like to sit that way, it makes me feel like a hardcore martial artist… or tea ceremony gal. I must be doing it wrong, because these days my feet go numb very easily. Maybe I’m leaning back on my ankles too much. Anyway, unbeknownst to me my left foot had fallen deeply asleep and my right foot was lightly snoozing › Continue reading

Tags: injuries

My Campbell Year

Monday, February 15th, 2010 | News update | No Comments

Ever since I heard of the Campbell Awards I have loved them. The Campbell Award, given every year during WorldCon, recognises new emerging writers. Once you have received your first ok pay cheque for writing sf/f a clock starts to tick and you have two calendar years to prove yourself worthy of nomination. Carving out a life as a writer is a long marathon and it’s nice to see relatively close goals that you can aim for towards the start of the journey.

I’ve enjoyed thinking about how in 2010 and 2011 would be my years to chase the Campbell dream, to prove myself worthy, to aim high. In a strange twist of fate my first Campbell Award eligible work came out in December 2009, starting the clock a year earlier than I had dreamed (my Campbell bio is now up). I am delighted that Cracked Leather found a place to be published and has been so warmly received. I wouldn’t change it for the world (well maybe the world). It just means my tidy little fantasy of 2010 and 2011 to prove my worthiness for voting in 2012 has been truncated by a year.

The challenge is significant and I am not sure if I will prove my worthiness in time, but it is still worth striving for. I will throw myself as much as I can. This is a challenge to myself and not in competition. I plan to soar with my fellow nominees – we are in this crazy dream together. I will write, I will edit, I will send work to publishers, I will read, I will learn from my peers – as I do every year. But this year I will have an extra spur to my sides that I plan to use. This year will never come again.

2010 is my Campbell year. I’m going to enjoy the challenge.

Tags: campbell, TheLiz, writing

A funny thing

Saturday, January 30th, 2010 | News update | No Comments

I do love searching through Google Analytics. There’s so much crunchy data to contemplate I could lose days in it, especially when I’m procrastinating.

Someone found my website searching Liz Argall a funny thing. A funny thing is the name of a song I performed once or twice in the folk scene back in Australia. It was perky and poignant, the chorus was twee and yet I liked it; so I always had to get over a sense of awkwardness when performing (and it was no Telephone Song or Snowing Time). It was also the name of an angry poem I performed a few times (even today I have earned more cashes as a poet than a SF writer, though that is about to end).

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Tags: change, music

Home from a Photoshoot

Monday, January 18th, 2010 | News update | 1 Comment

I just got home from a lovely photo shoot for Roving Horse Henna, photos taken (of course) by the lovely Annaliese. It has been quite an involved process, working with two delightful women I adore. Wendy, Ms Roving Horse Henna is an astoundingly talented henna artist and Annaliese is a great photographer.

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Tags: girl girl, henna, photos, pretty, Roving Horse Henna, Stage Right Photography

The glasses made whole

Friday, January 8th, 2010 | News update | 2 Comments

I hiked out to Asterix Eyewear (though the sign says All American Eyewear) in NE Portland to see if my glasses could be repaired… my ocular vision a little strained from seeing the world through a sagging bandaid repair and a little bit afraid to move my head. Every time I tilted my head down my glasses would fall off and I ended up tucking the arms of my glasses into my hair for greater security.

Once at Asterix Eyewear (there may be buses everywhere in Portland, but oh my they can take a long time to get anywhere) I was told it would be $50 and an overnight job to weld my glasses back together. I looked very sad indeed and said I was willing to wait, wait a long time, but I needed my eyes to get home. The nice guy took pity on this poor Australian with no spare glasses and set to work.

I was told where convenient cafes were, but all felt a bit too far to go without my eyes on, so I waited, listened to The ComicsSpot, watched TED talks, read and tried to get some work done.

And hurrah hooray, an hour and a half later I had whole glasses. Normally he would take longer to test the weld, do a proper paintjob etc, but normally he would have a whole lot more time. The repair comes with a 3 month warranty, so if the weld does not hold I’ll be right. It was a very fiddly job to get all the things to align and I’m very glad to have my eyes back.

It feels mighty nice to have glasses that stay on my face.

Bearskull and glasses

Thanks for all the glasses tips everyone – it looks like it will all come in handy. I have some gorgeous french frames from a friend that I plan to put new lenses into and am seriously tempted by some online cheapo shopping.

Tags: injuries

Steampunk Reloaded II – comics reprinting opportunity

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 | News update | No Comments

Ann and Jeff VanderMeer are editing their second Steampunk anthology, Steampunk Reloaded II… and… I’ve just checked in with them, they love the idea of including comics.

So here it is short and sweet:

• They only accept reprints
• Reading period is December 15, 2009, and February 15, 2010
• Their definition of Steampunk is broad (if in doubt send it in)
• Go to Jeff VanderMeer’s website for further info
• Payment will be on publication as an advance against royalties
• Publication in fall 2010 by Tachyon Publication

Please pass it on to other comic creators. Lets put on a good showing and get our comics to exciting new audiences (and in… bookstores!)

Oh no melon! my glasses broke

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 | News update | 8 Comments

I got out of the shower this morning, I polished my glasses and they snapped in half. Oh no!

I don’t think I have spare glasses and shall subsist for a time with my specs stuck together with tape.

I am considering shopping online for my new specs given I have a recent prescription. Any recommendations for online or Portland, OR places to get glasses?

Creating Comics in Canberra, Australia

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 | News update | 3 Comments

I’ve noticed (through the power of google analytics) that quite a few people have found my website while looking for comic workshops in Canberra. I don’t live in Canberra anymore, but I am happy to help you find local comicers if you need someone.

Impact Comics might be able to help you as well, I’m sure they’ll do their best. They are a wonderful comics store in Civic (right near the chessboard) who really support independent comics and local creators. They’ve organised events like Women in Comics as part of International Women’s Day, hosted events during Canberra Living Artists Week; and looking at their website I’ve just found out they hosted an event for OtakuFest. I highly recommend going to them as a first port of call for anyone interested in comics in Canberra.

And Yes they do host Free Comic Book Day. A lot of Canberrans I know assume Free Comic Book Day does not come to us… well it does! Remember to get your free comics on 1 May.

Oh dear, you can see how enthusiastic I get when I’m talking about Impact Comics, I can’t help it. They’ve earned my love with a great store and great conversations. As a comic creator, having a good retailer who you can chat about the business (and art) with is a wonderful thing.

Happy comic creating and Happy New Year

TLM Dukkah

Friday, December 25th, 2009 | News update | No Comments

I love to make Dukkah, ok well technically it is some strange evolving seed, spice and herb mixture that is inspired by Dukkah and other delicious spice traditions throughout the world. In my imagination there are probably as many Dukkah recipes as there are Egyptian grandmothers. Food is a dynamic and adaptive creature moving to different climates, intersecting with different cultures and different foods have been available. My Dukkah has traits that are more similar to Za’atar, especially with its high sesame seed content and I’ll keep tweaking it and playing around with it. I am sure it is also influenced by delicious Japanese rice seasoning (that I still call shaky stuff thanks to good friends back in Australia). It’s a constant exploration and excuse to buy interesting looking spices. I never use measurements or make exactly the same Dukkah twice.

Read on for my ‘recipe’ and what to do with Dukkah.

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